Australia’s golden generation of women’s middle-distance runners will again be on display with a full contingent lining up for the Women’s 800m semi-finals, while Dr Mackenzie Little spearheads Australia’s charge on the field on Day Seven of the World Athletics Championships.
National record holder Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram) enters the 800m semi-finals as one of the most exciting prospects in the field. Her first race in Tokyo showed she has held her form that stunned the track world when clocking 1:57.67 for fifth place at the Silesia Diamond League.
Leading the pack and matching the pace of Olympic medallist Georgia Hunter Bell (GBR) in her heat overnight, the World Under 20 silver medallist is looking forward to laying down a season’s worth of work in an attempt to advance to her first final at the senior level.
“Training has been going well and I was confident going in. I’ve been working on that first 200m every single training session so I’m really glad that it’s paid off,” Hollingsworth said.
“Being the national record holder, I think it comes with a bit of pressure but also a lot of excitement knowing my times are up there with everyone else in the world and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do in the semis.”
Hollingsworth will race in the first semi-final, facing Hunter Bell who has a personal best of 1:55.96 once more, along with Kenyan great Mary Moraa (1:56.03) and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin (1:55.96)
Backing up from her 1500m campaign and a tumble on the track overnight, Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) is looking forward to showing off her remarkable range in the two-lap event. Already one of the country’s most versatile athletes, with world class times from the 800m through to the 5000m, Hull has shown she can adapt to any challenge, and will do so once more, alongside Commonwealth medallist Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) who has shown strength in holding her nerve in championships settings.
Hull will race in semi-final 2 alongside a more even field that includes Kenyan Lilian Odira who was fastest in the heats with Caldwell in the final heat, lining up alongside world leader and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson (1:54.61).
Australia once again goes into the Women’s Javelin with multiple 60m+ throwers, in Mackenzie Little (NSW, Angus McEntyre) and training partner, Liana Davidson. In her first year of full-time work as a registrar at Royal North Shore Hospital, Little remains a medal chance as one of the most experienced and consistent athletes in the field.
Her pathway to the final will mean matching her season’s best of 61.96m against a stacked group led by world leader Victoria Hudson (AUT, 67.76m), China’s Liu Shiying (66.13m) and European champion Andriana Vilagos (SRB, 67.22m). Little’s ability to rise when it matters, including at the recent Diamond League finals where she placed fourth, highlights her ability to collect her second global medal after bronze at the 2023 World Championships.
Davidson has been one of the revelations of the season and proven to be a threat to the global field and to her teammate. At just 21, she sits at sixth in the qualifying field with her personal best of 63.79m. The fourth-place getter at the NCAA Championships this year, Davidson arrives in career-best form and has the credentials to advance her to her first Open age final.
Earlier in the day, Australia’s endurance trio of Jack Rayner (VIC, Nic Bideau), Ky Robinson (QLD, Dathan Ritzenhein) and debutant Seth O’Donnell (VIC, Andrew Russell) will lace up for round one of the 5000m.
Robinson, seeded 17th with a personal best of 12:58.38 is among a new wave of global contenders and arrives off the back of success this year, breaking the national 3000m short track record and coming closer to Craig Mottram’s long-standing 12:55.76 Australian record from 2004. Rayner holds a season’s best of 12:59.42 to sit 36th on the list, while O’Donnell, in his first senior championships, rounds out the Australian trio with a best of 13:13.85.
The opposition for Australia in the round will be formidable, with the field featuring six men under 12:45 this year, including Olympic steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali, Ethiopia’s Kuma Girma and Hagos Gebrhiwet, as well as US pair Grant Fisher and Nico Young. With the strength of the field, the heats are expected to be fast and unforgiving, demanding tactical precision and resilience from the Australians as they chase places in the final.
Paris Olympians Camryn Newton-Smith (QLD, Ralph Newton) and Tori West (QLD, Eric Brown and Sam Leslie) start their heptathlon campaigns with their first four events in the one session on Friday evening.
With 24 athletes from 16 nations set to contest the gruelling seven events across two days, the Australians will test themselves against a roll call of global stars, including Belgium’s Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam (7013) and Britain’s two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson (6981), while aiming to climb the ranks and post personal best scores on the biggest stage once more.
To start the competition West has drawn Thiam and Johnson-Thompson for the 100m hurdles. Newton-Smith will hurdle against world number one American Anna Hall (7032pts).
With 6000+ points regarded as truly world-class. Newton-Smith’s best is 6180 points ranking her 18th in the field, while West is seeded 19th with 6107 points.
Australian viewers can watch the 2025 World Athletics Championships live on two networks, with SBS and Nine broadcasting each session across their platforms.
By Sascha Ryner and Andrew Reid, Australian Athletics
Posted: 19/9/2025
